Without further delay, the height of the Almatti dam should be raised from 519 metres to 524 metres, according to Basavanabagewadi Congress MLA Shivananda Patil.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, he said that the increased height of the dam would enable the district to store more water for irrigating farmland. Due to drought, the government is not able to discharge water to canals for irrigation. If the height of the dam is raised, it will help solve the problem to a considerable extent.
“As of now there is limited water in the dam owing to which we are not able to supply adequate water to farmers who are in distress owing to the withering of crop. If the government raised the height of the dam, it would be of great help to the farming community”, Mr. Patil added.
Mr. Shivananda Patil said that the government has already acquired enough land to raise the height to at least 521 metres, so as of now it can be raised to that height and by phases it can be increased further. He also suggested that the height of the dam could be increased in phases every year.
He also argued that as the height of the dam was not being raised, at least 300 to 900 tmcft of water was flowing into Andhra Pradesh. On the irrigation project taken up in his constituency, Mr. Patil said the project would be completed in a time-bound manner.
